From the point whence they turned back, they had seen a fine valley with a running stream.

This valley they named Rossitur Vale, after Captain Rossitur of the French whaler Mississippi, the first foreign vessel to enter Port Lincoln.

Rossitur was the man who was destined later to afford opportune aid to Eyre, without which he would never have reached Albany.
On the 18th of June, 1840, Eyre's preparations were complete, and he left Adelaide after a farewell breakfast at Government House, where Captain Sturt presented him with a flag -- the Union Jack -- worked by some of the ladies of Adelaide.
His party was not a large one considering the nature of the undertaking, consisting as it did of six white men and two black boys.

At Mount Arden they formed a stationary camp.

A small vessel called the Waterwitch was sent to the head of Spencer's Gulf with the heaviest portion of their supplies, and the party had three horse drays with them.